Old Men.

7. We are old and feeble now-
Feeble hands to age belong-
But, when o'er our youthful brow
Fell the dark hair, we were strong.

To the strife we once could bring
Limbs by toil and hardship steel'd;
Dreaded rivals in the ring,

Dreaded foes in battle field.

Young Men

Though your youthful strength departs,
your children it endures;

With

In our arms, and in our hearts,

Lives the valour that was yours.

Children.

We shall yet that strength attain,
Deeds like yours shall make us known,
And the glory we shall gain.

Haply may surpass your own.

1. The Spartan women entered so savagely into the warlike spirit of the nation, that it is related of them, that when any of their sons fled from the army, through fear, they were known to kill them with their own hands.

2. A Spartan 'scaping from the fight,
His mother met him in his flight,
Upheld a faulchion to his breast,
And thus the fugitive addressed :-
"Thou canst but live to blot with shame
"Indelible, thy mother's name.

"Whilst every breath that thou shalt draw
"Offends against thy country's law;
"But, if thou perish by this hand,
"Myself, indeed, throughout the land,
"To my dishonour shall be known,
"The mother still of such a son;
"But Sparta will be safe and free,
"And that shall serve to comfort me."

3. The Spartans were never afflicted with low spirits. Their violent exercises of running, wrestling, hunting, and dancing, preserved them from self-weariness—from ennui, as fashionable people call the pain of ignorant idleness. This is the fatigue of indolence in the state of being alone, without sympathy. It is a common disease of the mind among rich grown persons, and excessively indulged children, in modern times. Ennui is a

French word, in very common use among the opulent, in cities. Neither the disease, or the name, are much known in the country. Miss Hannah More says of people who are afflicted with Ennui

"The wretch who digs the mine for bread,
And toils, that others may be fed,
Feels not fatigue like that decreed
To him who will not think nor read."

The animation of labour gives a sense of enjoyment to the virtuous poor; and the pleasures of thought, and the acquisitions of knowledge, relieve the intelligent man of leisure from the oppressiveness of nothing to do, or to expect.

4. At any time of life those who possess much command of time will be miserable if they neglect to cultivate their own minds, or to promote the happiness of others. Having done, at all times, all that we can by forbearance or active exertion, to please those about us, and to serve them, it becomes our privilege and our duty, if we have opportunities, to acquire some elegant accomplishments. Music, drawing, and reading, the acquirement of easy sciences, and the study of different languages, afford agreeable employments to the mind-all these pursuits are inexhaustible, and always, in their progress, new.

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5. It is frequently asked, of what use is the knowledge of Botany, experimental Chymistry, and the acquirement of languages to persons engaged in no profession, and surrounded only by those who speak English alone?—The pursuit of all knowledge is useful. Every vein opened in the mine of truth, affords that wisdom whose revenue is better than silver." Knowledge furnishes agreeable occupations, and saves us from frivolous tastes and low vices. We cannot love mean things and high things at the same time. We shall not be backbiters, suspicious, envious, regardless of truth, and destitute of honour, if we seek what is useful and elegant, and virtuous, and "think on those things."-Our moral tastes and preferences take their character from the subjects which employ our habitual reflections.

The Spartans were an extraordinary people, but there is little in their institutions or character that deserves imitation in the present state of the world. What is worthy in them is inculcated in us by Christianity. The love of parents, respect for old age, moderate indulgence of the senses, patience and fortitude under bodily pain and all unavoidable sufferings, were the Spartan virtues. But the warlike gririt of the Spartans excited them to carry their arms into every country whither they had any pretence to go; they permitted themselves to be hired as mercenaries in the service of foreign princes; and they treated their neighbours, the Messinians, and their slaves, the Helotes, with the most unrelenting cruelty during a long period of time

To do as we would have others do to us is a law of the same obligation to governments as to single individuals. It was as unjust for the Spartan arinies to ravage the fields of Messenia, to burn the houses, and to carry off the flocks, as it would be for us, upon any provocation, to take or destroy the property of our neighbours of the same city or street. The former is called War, the latter Robbery.

Laconic.-A common word, signifying a brief mode of speech. The people of Laconia used this simple language, and we still call it laconic, from its supposed origin.

MESSINIA.

Messina was surrounded by Elis, Arcadia, Laconia, and the sea; it is chiefly remembered for misfortunes,-for wars with Sparta, for the cruel treatment inflicted by its conquerors, and for the miserable exile of many of its inhabitants, who were driven forth to strange countries through fear of the Spartans. Pylos, the city of Nestor, was in Messinia. Nestor, the benevolent and wise old warrior of the Iliad, is known to all the readers of Homer.

ARGOLIS.

1 This country lay to the east of Arcadia, which it joined. At the eastern extremity Argolis stretched out into a peninsula between the Argolic and Saronic Gulfs. In this province, were Mycenae and Argos, the kingdom of Agamemnon, who is calied in the Iliad, the "king of kings," and the "king of men." The city of Argos was regarded as next in the antiquity of its origin to Sicyon. Argolis was a land of fable, and concerning many of its heroes and heroines very affecting stories are related. Those of the fifty daughters of Danaus, of Danæ, and of Iphigenia are among the most interesting.

2. Argos was so celebrated that the appellation